On Wednesday Chris and I visited Tech City Stars new Reboot Camp. It was another Dragon’s Den day. Chris was a Dragon again, I came along to film and take pictures on the day. It was nice to see everyone back at Tech City, they all welcomed me very nicely. I arrived quite late so I did not get the chance to meet everyone in camp, but just before Dragon’s Den started I gave them all a few words of encouragement.

I told them that it is ok to be nervous, I remember being nervous 3 months ago but the main thing to do is enjoy every moment of this experience. It felt weird to be speaking in front of a whole new class because all I kept thinking was “This was me 3 months ago”.

So now the ball started rolling and I must say every group that presented were outstanding.Knowing they only had 24 hours to prepare for this, they all had something unique about their pitch. One team called COAO, designed a mobile social app for a group of friends to book restaurants, be able to pay for their meal, split bills and also message one another through the app. I must say they did an excellent job with designing a website and app template, alongside preparing for their pitch. What also stood out to me from COAO is that they used a one of Fulham’s well known Fish & Chips restaurant as an example.

One thing I was happy with, was the fact that there was no phone chargers being presented to the Dragons. My class had 5 groups that were all presenting phone chargers. It was nice to see different ideas being brought to the table. Whilst I was looking at the groups and their presentations, it made me feel like if “New Wave” was in this round of Dragon’s Den, there is a chance we might not have won.

Honestly, I must say the winners “Barber Yuu” stole the show. They came up with an app offering the services of mobile barbers. Their whole presentation looked neat & professional, they knew they had a winner, each member presented with such confidence. When the Dragon’s were giving their feedback, one of the Dragon’s stated how much they liked the company's Logo. One of the members at Barber Yuu said: “Thank you, but let me just tell you, the logo took two minutes to make.”. I must say I loved their presentation.

At break time a few of the Campers approached me and asked how did they look, did they seem nervous at all because they felt nervous the whole way through, I told them you all looked fine and did not seem nervous at all, then I thought back to myself I remember sweating buckets at this event 3 months ago.

Overall it was nice to come and see it as someone in the crowd rather than worrying about having to go up in front of those Dragon’s to present. I want to congratulate everyone from this Reboot Camp, I am sure you all had a great time with Wayne & Rhi. I would like to wish them all the best of luck going forward in getting apprenticeships, also try to remember all the good memories of this Reboot Camp and definitely keep in contact with one another because it really seemed like a nice group of people.

One thing I have to mention is. On my way to the station, I was talking to one of the girls on camp about what she wants to get into and how she found Reboot Camp. She had nothing but nice things to say about it and that she would like to get into Digital Marketing. She then asked me what is it I do and how did I find reboot camp. I told her how Reboot Camp was one of my favourite experiences and I loved being able to come back and see how others are doing.

She sounded excited about all I had to say, then she asked: “What was the name of the role when you applied for your apprenticeship.” I explained that I was quite lucky and that it was Dragon’s Den where I met Chris and it was there he decided he wants to work with me. Her reply stunned me...

“OH, IT IS YOU!"

I was in shock and had to ask “it’s me?” she told me how Wayne and Rhi said that there was this guy who got a job through the Dragon’s Den day and how it was the first time it has happened. I could not help but laugh and think to myself, I feel like those stories you hear of in the past where you are not exactly sure if it is real or not, something like.

“He cycled from London to Manchester in an hour to deliver a baby”… (Yeah that is how I felt, do not judge me!)

I am going to cut off here, Part 2 is going to be a short video of the day and talk about filming and taking a few pictures at the event. I want to wish the new Reboot campers luck again and thank everyone for reading this! Hope you all have a great weekend!